Outdoors: Almost all predators are fit for eating

Fox and coyote hunting are in full swing now that their fur is of optimal quality. The seasons will end when they begin mating in a little over a month. Relatively few sportsmen hunt them. The rewards are hard-won and require considerable skill.

There's a myth that predators can't be eaten. Other than polar bear liver, which contains lethal levels of vitamin A, predator meat can prove surprisingly edible and, in some cases, delicious. I've eaten mountain lion and margay, a rain forest cat served to me by Quichua Indians in the Amazon. Both were good, light meat with a distinctive flavor. In China, I once unknowingly was served skewered dog, which was lean, a little like beef, but otherwise unremarkable.

Although fox and coyote can be edible — no different than dog — neither is considered good table fare here. Even those who regularly pick up and dine on local road kills avoid them. There are several good reasons.

Their highly variable diet, like that of scavenging crows, can include foul carrion, which may impact their flavor negatively. Their susceptibility to mange, distemper and rabies, as well as their habit of rolling like domestic dogs in very smelly substances, has put them off my menu. But for those who will eat anything that doesn't eat them first, they can provide good nutrition and, with good recipes, passable meals.

I've seen several jerky and crock-pot recipes for them. Tufts researcher Dr. Sam Telford notes that the Swiss popularized fuchspfeffer, or fox stew, until the European animal rights movement took hold in the 1970s. He recommended reading the book of former Dean of UC Davis Veterinary School Dr. Calvin Schwabe, "Unmentionable Cuisine," the bible for "unusual" foods. Schwabe would eat almost any wild game — and lived to write about it.

But Telford also notes that fox and coyote are hosts for a potentially dangerous tapeworm called echinococcus. Ingested eggs from their feces can cause hydatid disease, characterized by a tumorous growth in the liver or other abdominal area. Worse, it can cause alveolar hydatid disease or multilocular hydatidosis, a truly scary disease, which results in hundreds of tumor-like cysts in the lungs. There is no cure; patients always die.

Telford recommends hunters and trappers who handle fox and coyote carcasses always do so carefully with gloves and wash their hands to prevent any fecal contamination on the fur from getting into their system.

Although trichinosis is associated mostly with pigs and bears, it can occur in canids, too. Thorough cooking, however, neutralizes that disease.

Far more fox and coyote hunters will find value in their furs. Mass. Trappers Association president Malcolm Speicher said fur prices, thanks to foreign demand, are rising sharply, with local gray foxes bringing about $37, and both red foxes and coyotes fetching about $45. Western coyotes, although much smaller than our eastern part-wolf coyotes, are commanding as much as $70 because they have much finer belly fur. Our bigger coyotes have coarser, longer and less desirable fur thanks to the genetic influence of wolves. Buyers from all over the world will hold big auctions next month, though, and make the season's final statement about local fur prices.

Many believe — although this is subject to considerable debate — that our coyote population needs thinning. Two neighbors who have lost cats blame the local coyote pack, and most local deer hunters I hear from fervently believe that coyotes kill too many fawns and game birds here.

To take a wily coyote or fox isn't easy. You're not likely to just serendipitously come upon either one. Effective strategies necessarily include legal use of bait (often deer processing leftovers), decoys, electronic or manual calls, and dogs. Artificial lights, which would be very helpful, are prohibited, so hunting till midnight, the end of legal shooting time, requires special silhouette and/or moonlight circumstances that are greatly enhanced by snowpack.

To many, the coyote locally has become the equivalent of the big, bad wolf. Its reputation, now approaching mythical proportions, is largely exaggerated and undeserved. For deer hunters who don't want to share their game, demonizing them comes naturally. Sure, they'll take some fawns during the first couple of birthing weeks, as will local bears and bobcats, but that number, according to all the Massachusetts biologists I talk to, is not oppressive as it is in some other parts of the country.

For most of the year, local coyotes primarily hunt rodents, which are much easier to pursue here. Their constant predation of mice, rats, voles and woodchucks is overwhelmingly beneficial to us. Nevertheless, those who are convinced that coyotes are malevolence incarnate may be happy to learn that natural factors can lower their local populations. Heartworms and distemper perennially threaten coyotes from Cape Cod to the Berkshires.

Telford explains that virtually all local coyotes have heartworms, but there's an 80/20 biological rule that's operative here.

Typically, 20 percent of a population will have 80 percent of the parasite mass. While 20 percent of a region's coyotes may have a lot of heartworms and be in poor condition, about 80 percent of them will live very well with just a few heartworms in their system. The parasites seem to be just an innocuous part of their flora.

On the other hand, Telford notes, all coyotes, since every one of them carries heartworm, will contribute to infecting mosquitoes with the disease, adding to the risk posed to our pets, which need to be medicated to prevent heartworm problems from mosquito bites.

Not long ago, dogs were often chained outside. With increased outdoor exposure, many of them got serious heartworm problems. But even then, the 80/20 rule was operative, and 80 percent of the dogs may have had a few heartworms and continued living without symptoms. Distemper, however, is another matter.

Telford warns that this virus, which dramatically decimates local raccoon and skunk populations, can similarly infect coyotes, causing a horrific outbreak, during which most die. But a few genetically lucky individuals survive, gaining immunity that they pass on, hindering further transmission of the disease.

But the virus never totally leaves the scene. The outbreak may end or smolder at a background level, Telford explains, but a new strain of the virus never before encountered by the local population will inevitably enter the scene and start a new outbreak. So what we can and should expect in nature are periodic waves of survival and catastrophe, with pathogens proving overwhelming, followed by a crash in victim populations, which leads to a crash in pathogen populations.

As for local foxes, Telford blames their periodic demise more on sarcoptic mange or canine scabies, a skin disease caused by deeply burrowing parasitic mites, which also can severely impact coyotes. Highly contagious, mange causes intense itching, scratching, infection and hair loss. But again, this mange wave is very dynamic. After a crash, the surviving immune population rebounds back to normal.

Whenever coyote and fox populations plunge, rats, mice and other rodents — especially the woodchuck — have great cause to celebrate. Coyotes and foxes are their nemeses. Enlightened farmers and gardeners sometimes realize that coyotes are their ally.

Killing coyotes may not always end in reducing their numbers, either. Apparently the alpha male and female of a territory serve as the birth control mechanism for other would-be breeders. Once they're killed, the unruly teenagers of the pack, no longer limited by the alphas, can breed with impunity and increase the population in some cases.

Fox hunting ends Feb. 28, while coyote hunting continues through March 8. For those who would otherwise experience depression with the end of the deer and waterfowl seasons, this is a good excuse to postpone putting away all our hunting gear.

Monday — Northeast Big Buck Club scoring night, Archery Plus, Spencer, 6 p.m. A fun night of hunting stories and see some of the great local bucks that hunters were lucky enough to kill. $25 to score a rack includes a year membership to NBBC and full-color magazine four times a year. Food and drinks available.